Welcome to Gaia! ::

Kekeovonnai did not mind the dust of the town. His particular brand of Gaili magic operated on small things - not mountains and boulders, but dust and sand, and so he felt right at home in the dust-filtered sun. He didn’t mind, even, the smell of blood and aggression that marked this low-life town.

Carrend was lawless, a place for travelers to refresh their water and hurry away, not to stay for long, but for the Khehora - born in the lawless wilderness of the mountains anyway - it was simply a slightly more dangerous version of home. Magescians, after all, were less predictable than dragons. Keke, however, was enjoying his observations of the twolegs, even in their debased, hardened frontier forms.

When Xenosa had invited him to join her here, he had been more than excited. He’d been ecstatic. Finally, a chance to really study Magescians. Finally, a chance to obverse Xenosa in her natural habitat, as it were. He hoped he could provide some help to her as well… he’d like that.

He trotted through the nearly uninhabited backroads, already conspicuous as a Khehora. Soot and charcoal would not have helped him - he didn’t need to darken his already mostly black scales. A Magescian would give him a better disguise - as a bonded - but Keke wasn’t thinking in terms of disguise. He was thinking in terms of a grand and exciting outing. And, for that, he needed to find Xenosa.

He managed to catch her scent, mixed with soot and dirt and cloth and grease, and cheerily trotted towards it. It took him a few moments - more, even - to recognize the shadowy figure beneath the sheltering roofs that lined the street. He fell into step next to her, flashing her a bright white grin.

“I’ve heard about it.” he murmured. Though, he had heard about it only enough to find his way here from the Expanse. Khehora clan lands didn’t have such unsavory characters. There were no assassinations, no outright ‘murders’, nothing like the way the town operated. Keke had only heard rumors of such things, and he had dismissed them. So, yes. He had heard of Carrend. But no - he did not fully understandI its dangers. And, even if he did, he probably would not be phased at all.

He nodded at her requests, perfectly willing to pretend to be a bonded, and stay out of the way. He was here to help, not hinder. He opened his mouth to ask a question, and then hesitated, closing it with a sheepish expression.

No talking. Right.

He clamped his mouth shut against his questions (he could bother her with them later, when he had even more). Instead, he nodded mutely. Of course he knew very little about her - he was hoping to learn more. And dangerous or not, he would. Besides, Magescians were dangerous in general, and Khehora were not fluffy kittens either. He was an able khehora, with an ally, surrounded by his own element. He was fine. He gave her an extra nod for good measure, and shifted himself around, arching his back and bowing his legs slightly to make himself look bigger and tougher, putting an expression on his face that he felt looked belligerent. If he finished it off by looking as brusque as his sister sometimes got, he thought he could appear just as dangerous as Xenosa did. He glanced up, almost playfully, seeking her approval with a wink of his emerald green eyes.

He could totally do this.

The place stank of rancid liquid, but it was more the isolation from the sand and silt of his element that bothered Keke, just a little. Not that it was clean inside, but it was still a floor, a separation between him and the solid - or mostly solid - Earth. Not the most comfortable place for him. Still, his excitement was unabated. Clearly Xenosa was here to meet someone, and he couldn’t wait to meet them too. He sniffed at the aromatic floorboards, keeping his mouth shut as he had promised, before following Xenosa to the table. Since they seemed to be waiting, he settled in to make himself comfortable. He had just begun to set himself down in a relaxed sphinx pose when Xenosa asked her question. He looked over at the Oblivionites, and decided that they looked like Oblivionites. They smelled like Oblivionites, too. And leather. And guns.

Guns?! Oooo. Keke had only heard tell of the strange spring and sulfrous powder contraptions that could propel metal balls with deadly force. He had never actually seen them before. How very interesting. Apparently, Xenosa wanted an answer, which meant she wanted him to talk now. So, he spoke quietly.

“They smell nervous.” It was a strong smell in the air, and he was sure it was coming from them. They didn’t look nervous, but they were looking in their direction, or at the bar, or at the entrance. “I think they’re waiting for something.” It reminded him a little of how his sister got when she was hunting. Or, how he got when he was stalking something. “Or hunting.” But what could they be hunting in this stinky place? Other twolegs? It was puzzling.

Keke noticed when the Oblivionites’ attention was suddenly more focused, and he looked towards where they were looking. Oh! A female! Was this who Xenosa’s ‘contact’ was? The person she was supposed to meet? He looked up at her questioningly, but he got his answer before the question was even asked.

“Sure.” he said, stretching once before striding forth. He could almost feel the eyes of the Oblivionite group on him, but he didn’t look. He just behaved as ‘Zarri would and struck a proud posture. Let them stare he thought. It wasn’t as though he wasn’t an obvious adult khehora anyway.

He trotted up to the girl. “Hello.” he said quietly, “I’m X’s bonded. You can call me K if you want…” He chuckled to himself. Heh. He was so clever. “I can take you to her.”

Keke moved so that he was between the girl and the Oblivionites, mentally thumbing his nose at them as he blocked their line of sight. “Please keep to this side of me.” he said, pretending that the group was of no real interest to him. He could see them, though, out of the corner of his eye, watching him. Again, let them watch. He had a nice hide for them to admire, blotched as it was with bright regions of green. He walked with her up the stairs.

Was this an inn? Where Magescians stayed when they weren’t in the wilds or on the road? What a wonderful concept, a place just for travellers. Except, from the smell of things, it wasn’t a very well-kept inn. But, well, having a roof was absolutely spectacular for someone used to either caves or sky, so Keke wouldn’t complain. But he also wasn’t staying here.

He entered a room, looking behind him for pursuit. He could not see them, but he could feel them, their feet making the floor shake in a way he was easily able to discern. “Oop!” he said, hustling her into a room. It was a basic affair, a grimy bed, grimy floors, grimy clay pitchers and… a grimy window.

Keke immediately broke the window, the shards arranging themselves around his claw, the shatter muffled by their suspension. Glass, after all, was just condensed sand, his element. “Could you look out the window a moment and check for me?” check for what, he didn’t know, but he figured she did. The footsteps drew closer and, the moment that the dark skinned and hollow eyed Oblivionites burst through the door, Keke burst forth with a surprise of his own. Sharp shards of glass swarmed the Oblivionites like bees, stinging and rattling and slicing. Kekeovonnai felt a little bad for them as they screamed, but they weren’t his priority right now.

After all, he was being helpful!

So, while they were thus occupied, he nudged the girl onto his back. Checked or unchecked, it was time to go. “Hang on!” he said, shoving his way out of the open window. Thankfully , he was lean and flexible enough to make it. He extended his wings to break his fall, not bothering to flap too hard as he landed gracefully on the ground.

Yes. The ground. His home. His element. “Yes. Hang on, very tight, just around my neck. Trust me, you’ll want to.” He hesitated, just a moment, to let her get a grip. “Ready?” he asked. And, without waiting for an answer, he charged ahead. On the ground, his magic kept his feet sure and helped him turn quickly among the dark, narrow corridors between buildings. He was fast and agile on the ground, running as fast as any well-bred hastar, faster certainly than any twoleg.

Keke kept to the shadows, darting in and out of trails, doubling back and winding around, just to give any pursuers a hard time. Finally, on the edge of town, he scurried under a shelter, free from airborne eyes and flopped hard onto his stomach. “There, that should do it!” he said, exhausted but exhilarated. This was all so fun! He couldn’t believe it! Panting, he looked up at the girl, twisting his neck to look at his back. “Are you all right?”

Keke stretched, flapping a wing. “Over here!” he said, still out of breath from his run. He struggled to his feet - which now were starting to ache slightly from the pounding they had taken - and moved, slowly, over. He sniffed the air around her. “Is that water?” he asked hopefully, peering around her briefly, “Goodness, I could use some right now…” His throat - his entire body really - was parched from the run and from the oppressive heat. Being black of hide was not the best color to be in the desert, he was rapidly re-learning. He sniffed again, noticing that Xenosa smelled strongly of blood, but that wasn’t surprising. Blood was almost a part of her scent, ever since he had known her - even in the hazy memories of his youth - it had clung to her. “What happened?” he glanced around and behind her, just to check. “Were you followed?”